Trip Summary Detals

Having known, fished with and promoted Mark Kniprath for many years (as a long time pilot guide for No-See-Um Lodge and owner of Chile’s only fly out operation Heart of the Andes) I was struck by the fact that Mark had sold his lodge near the Rio Baker and relocated to Chilean Tierra del Fuego. With aid of his float plane, Mark has long been the leader in Chilean exploratory fishing and the fact that he had given all that up for TDF was hard to understand. The one thing that we did know was that Mark knows what good fishing is and he (as well as some of his guides that we spoke to) felt that this was the best and most interesting fishing that had seen in the country. So in mid-February I packed my bags and made my sixth trip down to Chile for a closer look.

So what exactly did I find? Well, in short I found a place that I was not ready to leave. There were trees and lots of them. The wind was very reasonable and we saw condors, guanacos, rheas, beavers, and Magellan geese. There were small spring creeks and rivers with big resident brown trout and there were intimate wadeable lakes loaded with big cruising browns which would tail like bonefish. In all honesty in three days of fishing I never caught a single fish under 16 inches and I had fish upwards of 24 inches. In short, it was incredible!

Is it sea run brown trout fishery? Well yes and no. Despite having access to 27 miles of the upper Rio Grande (where I did boil a great big sea-run) and several other adventuresome sea run venues, I really consider the fishery to be based on resident brown trout. Sea runs can figure into the equation (especially after February and through March) but they should be seen as a dessert option rather than the main entrée. Where this place really shines is for intermediate to experienced anglers who want to fish on foot and in complete solitude. If you have good walking legs and like big fish in smaller water all the better!

The lodge itself is simple and comfortable with food to match. Nothing fancy here but everything is solid and well thought through. Is the destination worth the long trip south on its own fishing merits? Absolutely and it also makes a great addition to a week on the better know Argentine side of the Rio Grande.